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Housing crunch leaves renters, buyers waiting

By Christian M. Wade, The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass. on

Published in Senior Living Features

BOSTON -- Veriny Keut lived in cramped quarters with relatives while she waited more than three years to find apartment she could afford.

"It was really frustrating," said Keut, 36, a single mom whose 12-year-old daughter is entering eighth grade. "I just couldn't find anything on the North Shore in my price range, and we didn't want to move away from the area."

Keut and her daughter eventually found a two-bedroom apartment for $950 a month at a renovated housing complex in downtown Beverly, owned by the nonprofit Harborlight Community Partners. They're among the lucky ones.

Massachusetts -- which has the sixth-highest rents in the country and an ever-tightening scarcity of low-income rentals -- faces a housing crunch that shows little signs of abating, according to state officials and nonprofit groups.

Renters face long waits for housing to become available -- if it ever does.

Gov. Charlie Baker has pledged to devote more than $1.1 billion to housing programs over the next five years. His goal is to create or preserve 5,000 affordable units throughout the state.

The proposal ratchets up investment in public and affordable housing by 8 percent in the budget year that begins July 1, and 18 percent over the course of the plan.

Baker's proposal supports existing housing programs, he has said, and also finances efforts to maintain affordable housing that is at risk of flipping to market rate.

Separately, Baker has announced a new $100 million fund, to be overseen by MassHousing, that creates more housing for working, middle-class renters who make too much money for subsidized housing but are priced out of the market.

In recent remarks on the program, Baker said affordable housing is essential for economic growth.

"These working, middle-income families are the foundation of our economy and talented workforce," he said.

Housing groups welcome the added attention and say the money pledged by Baker may help local housing authorities while also encouraging private housing development.

Andrew DeFranza, executive director of Harborlight Community Partners, who has worked on numerous affordable housing projects in the region, said the housing crunch is on the verge of becoming a crisis.

His group's waiting list now includes the names of more than 100 prospective renters. The phone calls keep coming.

"We're very troubled by the inability to keep up with the demand," he said. "The bottom line is that there just isn't enough public capital to build enough housing to accommodate the needs of the people seeking affordable housing in the state."

Keut, who grew up in Beverly, said she lived with her sister and her parents for years before she found a place she could afford. Most of the rents for a two-bedroom in the Beverly area ran upward of $2,000 a month, which was beyond her means.

"It's a good place to raise a child, and we have roots here, so we wanted to stay," she said. "My daughter can actually have her own room."

Deepening the effects of the housing crunch is weaker federal support for affordable housing.

Two programs that historically made low-interest loans for housing projects for the elderly and disabled -- the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 202 program and the Department of Agriculture's rural rental program -- no longer exist, DeFranza said.

Buying an affordable home North of Boston is equally challenging, housing groups say.

"It's a huge problem," said John Wilder, executive director of the Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership, who counsels first-time homebuyers in Lawrence and Lowell. "The prices are more affordable for a lot of middle-income buyers, and banks are lending. The biggest problem is a lack of inventory. There's a lot more buyers than sellers."

Housing is deemed "affordable" when a tenant or homeowner pays no more than 30 percent of their total income for housing costs, according to state housing officials. To qualify for affordable housing, tenants generally must make less than 80 percent of the median income -- adjusted to the size of their family -- in the city or town where they want to live.

Recent studies suggest a widening gap between affordable housing supply and need.

For every 100 low-income renter households in the United States, there are only 29 affordable rentals, according to a report last year by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.

The report found median rents in the country rose 6 percent during the past two years, while renters' incomes dropped 13 percent.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that renters must earn $18.92 per hour, on average, to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent.

In Massachusetts, they must earn at least $24.05 an hour.

A recent report by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council calls for at least 20,752 housing units to be added in the state by 2030. The report said demand is greatest among seniors, but also includes young families.

A state law approved more than 45 years ago shifts the burden onto cities and towns to ensure at least 10 percent of local housing is affordable.

 

The Chapter 40B law intended to encourage building of affordable housing by reducing zoning roadblocks such as rules that say homes must be built on one- or two-acre lots.

In communities that fail to meet the 10 percent goal, developers are allowed bypass most zoning rules if 25 percent of the housing in their projects is deemed affordable.

On the North Shore and in the Merrimack Valley, a majority of communities fall short of the minimum requirement, according to the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development.

The affordable housing supply ranges from less than 1 percent of the 2,730 housing units in Boxford, to 14.4 percent of the 27,092 units in Lawrence.

Cities and towns that meet or exceed the requirement include Lynn, Salem and Beverly, while communities such as Andover, North Andover and Salisbury are close to the mark.

But restrictive zoning is just one hurdle for developers who want to renovate or build new units, housing groups say. Residents of many areas fight development, citing increased traffic and the impact on schools, among other gripes.

Because of a lack of state and federal money, developers often finance their project through a patchwork of sources including tax credits, bank loans, money from private investors and occasionally local government funds, according to DeFranza and others.

Baker's plan, which doesn't require legislative approval, calls for $50 million to preserve privately owned affordable housing units and $25 million to develop housing for homeless families and individuals with disabilities.

It devotes $34 million to mixed-income housing developments, $25.5 million for redevelopment of local public housing communities, and $14 million for "small-scale" community-based affordable housing.

DeFranza said the plan will help fill demand for housing.

But, still, there's a lot of catching up to do.

"It's a significant social problem across a variety of groups, from senior citizens to young families," he said. "We need to respond to those housing needs."

Christian Wade covers the Massachusetts Statehouse for the North of Boston Media Group's newspapers and websites. Reach him at cwade@cnhi.com.

North of Boston Subsidized Housing (as of Dec. 5, 2014):

Town/City&Subsidized Housing Units&Percentage of housing

Essex County

Andover&1,145&9.3

Georgetown&354&11.7

Groveland&80&3.3

Haverhill&2,465&9.6

Lawrence&3,907&14.4

Methuen&1,649&9.0

North Andover&932&8.5

Statewide&250,863&9.3

Source: Department of Housing and Community Development

(c)2016 The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.)

Visit The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Mass.) at www.eagletribune.com

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(c) The Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, Mass.

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